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(LEAD) U.S. official to visit Seoul for consultations on N. Korea

All News 15:06 July 24, 2018

(ATTN: UPDATES with ministry's briefing in last 7 paras)

SEOUL, July 24 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. State Department official in charge of Korea affairs will travel to South Korea this week for discussions on North Korea and pending alliance issues, a government official here said Tuesday.

Mark Lambert, the department's Korea desk director and acting deputy assistant secretary, plans to arrive in Seoul on Wednesday and meet foreign ministry officials. They include Kim Tae-jin, head of the North American affair bureau, and Jeong Yeon-doo, director general for the North Korean nuclear issue.

Lambert is also expected to hold a roundtable meeting with South Korean businesspeople involved in inter-Korean economic projects.

Mark Lambert, acting deputy assistant secretary of state (Yonhap)

Mark Lambert, acting deputy assistant secretary of state (Yonhap)

His trip comes amid concern about slower-than-expected progress in efforts to denuclearize the North.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo failed to get a timetable for the communist nation's denuclearization in his latest visit to Pyongyang earlier this month.

Details of the North's planned repatriation of the remains of American service members killed in the 1950-53 Korean War remain unannounced.

Some observers also raise a question about international unity on U.N.-led sanctions on Pyongyang.

They have accused China and Russia of continuing to back the North, while the U.S. and South Korea have stated that there will be no sanctions relief until its complete denuclearization.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. government issued an advisory alerting businesses to North Korea's sanctions-evasion tactics.

It called on them to "implement effective due diligence policies, procedures and internal controls to ensure compliance with applicable legal requirements across their entire supply chains."

But South Korea is seeking a waiver of its punitive steps against Pyongyang aimed at maintaining the momentum of inter-Korean reconciliation via the resumption of limited cross-border programs.

On Washington's latest note, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs construed it as reaffirming a position that the strict implementation of sanctions on Pyongyang is imperative in order to achieve the goal of denuclearizing the nation.

"The (South Korean) government is communicating and cooperating with the U.S. on various levels regarding the sanctions on North Korea," the ministry's spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said at a press briefing.

Asked about Lambert's trip, Noh said he's staying in Seoul for two days to discuss North Korea and other issues of mutual concern.

For instance, the allies are in negotiations over Seoul's financial contribution to the operation of the U.S. Forces Korea and sanctions against Iran.

lcd@yna.co.kr
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